Mystery Science Theater 3000 - A Christmas Tale
by WayWardWonderer
Summary: Featuring our beloved heroes from MST3k: Joel Robinson, Mike Nelson, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo. What's supposed to be a simple holiday becomes unexpectedly chaotic when flu season hits and two visitors from the past show up an disquiet all. (*No theatre in this tale but shenanigans still arise!*)
1. Presents

'Twas two nights before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... except for two curious, energetic, impatient, mischievous robots.

Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo were crawling around under the very large and eccentrically decorated Christmas tree in the living room. The two bots were anxiously looking for their presents while trying to keep quiet and not alert Joel to their secret deed.

"Servo, did you find anything yet?" Crow whispered inconspicuously as he poked his up through the green plastic tree branches; a round blue ornament was unintentionally hooked onto his net.

"Not yet." Tom answered as he proceeded to push the large gift boxes around, checking each name tag as he moved stealthily.

"Man, where did Joel hide our presents? We've looked everywhere!"

Joel Robinson, who was not at all surprised to see what the bots were doing, approached the tree quietly as he took off his black rimmed glasses and wiped the lenses on his shirt. Once again, Joel caught the robots red handed. "Not _everywhere_ my naughty robot friends..."

"Gah!" Crow pulled his head back down through the branches, knocking several ornaments loose in the process as he tried to hide from Joel.

"Guys, what're you doing?" Joel remarked as he watched several loose ornaments rolling around on the floor and the lower branches of the tree shaking rapidly.

Neither robot gave away their 'hiding place' as Servo answered nonchalantly for the both of them. "Nothing... What're _you_ doing?"

"Watching two robots who are up _way_ past their curfew looking for presents they aren't even supposed to have for another two days; _and_ they think they're getting away with something!"

"Aw, c'mon!" Crow finally climbed out from under the tree, his net now littered with various ornaments and threads of tinsel of many different colors. "Can't we open just _one_ present early? _Please_?!"

"Nope." Joel stood firm, his arms crossed and his head tilted to the side. "We have to wait for Mike to get back home. Now, please go to bed."

Tom finally emerged from beneath the tree, a half eaten candy cane stuck was to the side of his dome. "Why do we have to wait for Mike?"

"Because Mike is family. We celebrate Christmas _as_ a family."

"Stupid Mike... Why'd he have to go to back to stupid Wisconsin anyway?" Crow snarked bitterly as he noticed the candy cane stuck on Tom's dome. He promptly tried to pull the delicious treat off. "Hey! That's mine!"

"Ouch! Watch it!"

Joel sat down on the couch heavily, one hand pressed against his left ear. "Look, Mike still wants to see his parents during the holidays. Ever since his brother suddenly and tragically passed away Mike became the Nelson family's only son."

"Tragic?" Crow bluntly commented. "He was drunk! Eddie rolled his truck while drag racing with some teenagers!"

"Crow..." Joel hated it when Crow was ostensibly honest. "Listen, Mike feels like he now has double the responsibility to take care of his mother and father. He's just being a good son."

Crow put his foot against Tom's dome as he continued to try and pry the sticky candy free. "Why? They didn't exactly seem to care when Mike disappeared, and they seemed to care even less when he came home!"

Joel shook his head slightly, regretting the motion a little as his head began to swim. "It's complicated. Sometimes families aren't as close as others, but even then you still love your family, and continue to do so even when they don't exactly show it."

"OUCH!" Tom complained as Crow continued to slowly and painfully pull the candy from the plastic dome. "Quit it! Joel... help!"

With a mild chuckle Joel bent down from the couch pulled Crow away from Tom as he picked Tom up from the floor. "I'll get it. You know, this is exactly why you don't fall asleep while chewing gum. It gets stuck in your hair."

"I don't have any hair."

"And I don't have any gum."

"Good one." Tom remarked as Joel finally removed the sticky candy from his dome. "Ow! Thank you..." A smudge of red and white dye stained the side of his dome where the candy had once been.

Crow climbed up onto the couch and sat next to Joel. "Hey Joel, if we celebrate Christmas as a family, then how come Gypsy and Cambot aren't here, too?"

"Because Gypsy has a huge corporation to run and Cambot is helping her."

Tom scoffed. "She _owns_ the company, why couldn't she give herself a day off?"

Joel put Tom on the couch, on his opposite side from of Crow so the two bots are sitting beside him just like when they sat in the theater on the Satellite of Love, so long ago. "Because if she gives herself the day off then her employees couldn't have the day off to be with _their_ families. Someone has to keep 'ConGypsCo.' running during the holidays and Gypsy took the responsibility herself."

"Oh."

"Besides we mailed her and Cambot their gifts last week, and she sent us ours the day before Mike left."

"WHAT?!" The two bots whined in unison at this revelation.

"Gypsy sent us gifts?!" Crow gave Joel a dirty look as he stared at the clever human.

"And you didn't tell us?!"

"Relax you two..." Joel leaned back on the couch and pressed his hand back against his left ear. "You'll get _all_ your presents in two days. You just need to be patient."

"Fine..." Crow agreed begrudgingly. "But I'm going to be bitter tomorrow."

"Whatever!" Tom answered under his breath. "But I won't wait quietly!"

Joel patted the two pouting bots and laughed to himself. "C'mon. Let's get you guys cleaned up and into bed, alright? It's been a long, cold, snowy day. You guys went sledding for the very first time and you finally got to build a snowman-"

"Ah-hem." Tom cleared his throat. "SnowBOT."

"Right, snowbot." Joel corrected himself as removed the ornaments and tinsel from Crow's net. "You guys are overtired and fighting sleep, so go on, upstairs."

The two robots did as they were told and marched upstairs in a dramatic fashion, much like two angsty teenagers. Joel re-decorated the tree before heading upstairs himself.

Standing outside the bathroom door Joel listened to his two robots arguing and splashing around in the sink. "Servo stop hogging the sink!"

"I'm not hogging the sink, you're blocking the mirror!"

"Am not, lard-butt!"

"Are too, pin-beak!"

Joel stepped into the bathroom, more specifically stepped onto a wet bathroom floor. "That's enough, you two are clean. Now get to bed."

Tom hovered out of the bathroom past Joel. "Goodnight Joel."

"Goodnight Tom."

Crow splashed his way across the bathroom floor and into the hallway. "Hey Joel, when's Mike getting back?"

"What?" Joel turned his attention from the wet floor to the gold robot. "What's did you say?" Joel didn't hear the question.

"I said: 'When's Mike getting back?'" Crow repeated louder.

Joel somehow learned to read his robots' lips and figured out what Crow wanted. "Oh, I think late tomorrow night or early the following morning."

"Aw, geez..."

"Goodnight, Crow!"

"Goodnight, Joel..." Crow stomped off down the hall to his bedroom, pouting the whole way.

Joel grabbed a towel and kneeled down to mop up the water on the floor. He felt a little dizzy as he put his hand on his ear again. "Ouch..." He tilted his head to the side and slowly stood up. "Hope you get back sooner than later, Mike."

With the bathroom clean, Joel went to check on the bots before her went to bed himself. Despite the angry and energetic protests the two childlike bots were already in their beds and sound asleep. Quietly Joel walked into their bedroom and made sure they were actually asleep and not playing dead.

Crow's eyes were shut, the small molybdenum visor that shielded his eyes were down and the gold bot was snoring. Joel pulled the blanket up and tucked it around Crow.

Tom was also asleep, snoring softly and muttering in his sleep. Joel tucked him in as well.

Joel walked into his bedroom and collapsed face first onto his fluffy pillow. He was feeling terrible but didn't want to worry the bots or do anything to diminish the vibrant holiday cheer. Too tired to get up again Joel elected to sleep in his jeans and black Metallica t-shirt, rather than change into more comfortable pajamas.

Turning his head slightly against the pillow he slipped off his glasses and put them on the table next to his bed and sighed. "I don't want to be sick... Not now."

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	2. Heading Home

Snow fell in thick, wet flakes that easily covered the dark roads and numerous trees under a sheet of blissful white purity.

It was dark and late into the night, already well past midnight. The bright white snow seemed to glow in the headlights of the car, while the moon shone through small breaks in the dark clouds created an ethereal glow. The very picture of all things winter.

Mike Nelson was enjoying the peace and quiet of his long drive back home from Wisconsin to Minnesota. Without the bots creating mischief or playing pranks on him, and without Joel to act as referee during their daily shenanigans, Mike found his (too long) week back with his parents quite dull. In fact he decided to leave one day earlier than scheduled, knowing that his parents wouldn't exactly be heartbroken by his premature departure.

Unfortunately for Mike his family wasn't exactly close or energetic when it came to family gatherings. For reasons he never understood his late older brother, Eddie, was always favored by his parents over himself. He didn't necessarily mind be ignored so often, it gave him a sense of privacy and individuality, but there were times when he wished he could've just walked through the front door and be greeted warmly.

Growing up he and Eddie weren't close and fought constantly. The fights only got worse as they grew up and they seemed to drift further and further apart. While Mike did his best to be a responsible young adult, taking various temp jobs while rehearing with his garage band, Eddie just seemed to drink, smoke and get into fights.

Why his parents favored the violent, ill-tempered son over the calm and slightly more responsible son always puzzled Mike. But he chose not to raise the question during the holidays to avoid awkward tension. Tension that would only be worse now that Eddie was gone.

Choosing to focus on the present instead of the past, Mike was truly grateful for the friendship and familial bonds he shared with the bots and Joel.

Sitting on the passenger seat next to Mike was a mysterious, worn out, and very old letter that had been written to him by someone calling themself an 'Old Acquaintance'. The letter had arrived at his parents' house a few years before Mike arrived, but it was addressed to Mike AND the bots. Curious about this seemingly 'lost friend' Mike responded to the letter and gave the pen-pal his current address. The letter itself was very interesting and he couldn't wait to share it with the bots and or course Joel. It'd be the most interesting thing he could talk about after visiting his parents.

Being so late and so emotionally drained, Mike was having a hard time staying awake. Flipping through the stations on the radio Mike passed over news reports about the heavy snow blanketing the Midwest and Eastern Coast and tuned into a classic rock station. To his surprise and nostalgic joy the song 'Satellite of Love' by Lou Reed began playing.

Laughing a little Mike turned the song up. "Nothing like visiting your family to really make you appreciate your friends."

As Mike rounded a curve on the quiet, isolated road a large buck suddenly jumped out in front of him from the brush. Slamming on the brakes Mike managed to slow the car enough to only injure the deer without actually killing it. The squealing of the tires as they tried to grip the slick road was almost a haunting sound followed by the heavy 'thud' of the deer colliding with the hood and grill of the car.

During the sudden stop the letter flew from its spot on the seat and onto the dashboard, plastering itself to the interior windshield.

"Uh-oh..." Mike commented as he released his tight grip from the steering wheel, his hands shaking a little as the fear induced adrenaline coursed through his veins. "Hope I didn't kill him!"

Reaching into the glove box Mike pulled out the emergency flashlight and cautiously exited the car, his warm breath dissipating in clouds through the cold air. Turning on the light Mike scanned the road and the car for any sign of the struck animal. A few feet in front of the car Mike saw the large buck laying on its side on the road. It let out a snort as it scrambled back to its feet and bounded off the dangerous road back into the relative safety of the snowy woods in the distance.

"Oh, good. It's alive." Mike shined the light on the front of the car where the deer had landed. "Oh, crap. It broke a headlight! Stupid deer..."

Small shards of Plexiglas and bits of light bulb littered the road just under the front bumper.

"I can't stop in the middle of nowhere and I don't know where the next repair shop is." Climbing back into the warm car Mike put the flashlight back in the glove box and shifted the car into gear. "Going to take it slow and steady. No more accidents."

Wanting to keep a vigilant eye on the road for any other wildlife that might try to play 'Frogger', Mike turned off the radio and turned on the brights of the headlights.

As Mike crossed the state line into Minnesota he contemplated sending Joel a text to let him know he'd be home in a few hours, but decided that since it was late he didn't want to wake anybody up. Besides, he'd have to get the headlight repaired and that would be a few hours in that of itself.

"This is going to be a long night..." Mike sighed as he looked at the digital clock's time display. "12:47, great. Don't think I'll be getting home before noon. I hope I'm not missing anything important!"

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	3. Feeling Ill

The thick white snow had fallen all night long, covering the entire town in fluffy whiteness. Piles of snow weighed heavily on tree branches and roofs, mounds of snow and ice coated the windows of every house in the neighborhood with sheathes of incredible frosted beauty. As the sun began to rise so did the two anxious robots in the Robinson household.

"Joel? Are you awake?" Crow was sitting on the edge of Joel's bed with his golden claw on the sleeping human's shoulder.

"C'mon Joel, wake up!" Tom Servo was sitting on Joel's back and bouncing up and down on his hoverskirt. "It's Christmas Eve! C'mon, let's celebrate!"

Joel, who was still feeling unwell but didn't want to diminish the bots cheerful moods, slowly opened his eyes and realized that the odd muffled sound he was hearing was actually his two robots yelling at him. Sleepily he reached for his glasses on the nearby table and slipped them on. "Crow, Servo, what's going on?"

Crow let go of Joel's shoulder. "'Bout time you woke up! We've been yelling at your for ten minutes now."

"Ten minutes?" Joel propped himself up on his elbows, Servo slid down his back a little bit in the process. "Sorry about that, heavy sleeper."

"No you're not." Crow protested bitterly. "We were constantly waking you up on the Satellite of Love, what gives now?"

"Nothing, just tired I guess."

"Yeah, 'just tired'..." Crow didn't believe him. "Well, now that you're up can we have breakfast?"

"You guys still don't know how to feed yourselves?"

Servo cleared his throat. "Of course we know HOW to feed ourselves Joel, we just don't WANT to."

"Uh huh..." Joel didn't sound too impressed. "and how does Mike feel about this?"

"He usually just left bowls of cereal out for us to eat in the morning. But once the ants started eating the cereal before we could, he stopped."

Rubbing his tired eyes Joel sat upright on the bed and felt his head swimming thanks to his unspoken earache. "Okay, go down to the kitchen and I'll fix something."

Crow put his claw on Joel's arm. "French toast?" He begged playfully.

"Sure."

"Yay!" Crow climbed off the bed and ran out of the room and down the stairs. "French toast!"

While Joel struggled to stand up without succumbing to dizziness, Servo stayed with his human friend. "Joel, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Nope. Something's wrong."

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't think, I know. You're acting sleepy, you're moving around slowly, you didn't bother to change out your clothes last night, you're pale, you're a little sweaty AND you keep titling your head to the left. Therefore, you; my nearsighted friend, are sick."

Joel didn't know what to say to the incredibly observant robot. "Nuh-uh." Was the only thing he could think to say in the heat of the moment.

"AND you're off your game! I win. So admit it."

"Fine, I admit it. I'm a little sick, but only a LITTLE."

"Yeah, and I'm only a LITTLE red."

"Servo, please don't push me. I'm trying to keep up a positive energy for Christmas."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. Look, I want to take a quick shower, can you please keep Crow from destroying the kitchen for maybe ten minutes?"

"Sure, but only if I get whipped cream on my French toast!"

"Deal!" Joel walked out of his bedroom and headed for the bathroom for his shower. "Just, don't eat too much. I don't want you to get sick, too."

"No promises." Servo waited for Joel to shut the door before hovering down the stairs and shouting at Crow. "Hey Crow! Joel says I'm in charge, so make me a sandwich!"

"Bite me, Servo!"

* * *

Mike was sitting in the small waiting area of the out of the way repair garage reading a 'Highlights' magazine from 1992. Casually Mike glanced at his watch and noted the time. "It's 6:30am on Christmas Eve, I'm sitting here alone in a weird-ass repair garage reading a child's magazine from the 90's and I'm starving. But I guess this is better than sitting in my parents' living room listening to all the great Eddie stories and comparing them to the disappointing Mike stories..." Mike wiped his nose with his sleeve. "And now I'm getting a cold..."

"Mike Nelson?" A mechanic wearing blue overalls, holding a large wrench and covered in grease called out from the doorway leading into the garage.

Mike looked around the small room, the small room that he alone was sitting in. "Yes?"

"You're Mike Nelson?"

Mike looked around again and nodded. "Yes."

"Cool. Come with me."

"Okay..." Mike tossed the magazine aside and followed the mechanic.

"Your headlight's been replaced and I managed to get the dents out of the hood and bumper. I even threw in a new pine tree air freshener for the fun of it."

"Thanks. The car looks great."

"Yeah, it'll be $500 and you're on your way."

"$500... That seems a little..."

"What? Pricey?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Look man, we're out of the way and don't get a whole lot of business, we HAVE to keep our prices up in order to make ends meet."

"Yeah, I understand. I'll pay."

"Cool."

Mike climbed into the car and opened up the glove box. Tucked away in the back of the glove box concealed inside a small box was his checkbook. He wrote the check, handed it to the mechanic and shook his head, only to immediate regret the kind gesture as he retracted his grip which was now covered in black grease.

As Mike pulled the car out of the garage he caught sight of the envelope on the dashboard and tucked it away inside his jacket. "About twenty minutes from home. And then I'm going to sleep..." He wiped his nose again. "NyQuil, take me away!"

* * *

Joel walked down stairs and into the kitchen were Crow and Servo were attempting to gather everything required (and then-some) to make French toast. The counter was littered with plates, bowls, measuring cups, spoons, spatulas, pot holders, flour, bread and for some reason the can opener.

"Guys, what's going on?" Joel adjusted his black glasses as he glanced around the destroyed kitchen. He picked up the can opener and gave the bots and odd look. "What is this?"

Crow quipped a sarcastic response. "It's a can opener!"

"That's not-" Joe laughed a little. "No, what are YOU GUYS doing?"

"Well," Servo answered confidently as he hovered up to Joel with a tiny chef's hat on his dome. "since it IS Christmas time and since you and Mike are always taking care of us, Crow and I decided that today and tomorrow WE'RE going to take care of YOU."

"But... you don't know how to cook."

"We'll learn!"

"Uh, Servo," Joel put his hand on the good intentioned robot's shoulder. "remember on the Satellite of Love when we had to jettison an entire pan of burning rock candy into space after Crow 'helped'?"

"Yeah, but, remember when Crow made those kickass brownies?"

"Yeah, those were good."

"See? We can do it! Mike's a pretty good cook and he showed us how!"

Joel laughed a little. "Okay Servo, you and Crow can make breakfast."

"Good," Crow yelled from behind the kitchen counter, a very large mixing bowl and spoon in his hands. "I already started!"

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	4. Home At Last

Outside the busy house the snow was piled up at least four feet deep, surrounding the loving home with a barricade of fluffy whiteness. The sheathes of ice that covered the windows concealed the chaos that was taking place in the kitchen, while also providing unparalleled natural beauty that was a site that of itself to behold.

Practically plowing through the snow as the newly repaired car pulled into the driveway, Mike looked at the front door of his grand house and sighed with immense relief.

"Home. Finally." Mike sneezed and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Man, I better not have the flu! I'll ruin Christmas for everybody..."

Climbing out of the car Mike sneezed once again and wiped his nose on his sleeve, again. The chill in the air instantly froze him to the bone causing him to shiver his teeth to chatter.

"Gah... Don't know what's worse: Minnesota snow or Minnesota rain... Or just plan Minnesota cold!" Mike grumbled to himself as he opened the trunk of the car and pulled out his two suitcases. "Never been so happy to be home... Well, except for that moment after the Satellite of Love crashed landed on Earth..."

Stumbling up the front steps to the front door Mike fumbled through his coat pocket for his keys to unlock the door. As soon as the bots heard the front door being unlocked they stopped what they were doing and looked at each other.

"Servo, someone's trying to break it!" Crow whispered in a paranoid tone.

"Right, I'll get the bat..."

Joel, who was supervising the two amateur chefs intervened. "No! Not bats. The door is being _unlocked_ , which means someone is using a _key_."

"So?" Crow asked with the same misunderstanding as a child.

"So," Joel continued. "there's only two people who have keys to this house: Myself and..."

"Mike!" Crow ran out of the kitchen to the front door. "He's home!"

"Wow," Servo was genuinely surprised by Crow's reaction. "I had no idea he missed Mike so much."

"He doesn't." Joel casually mentioned as he pressed his hand to his sore left ear and tilted his head to the side. "He just wants presents, and he thinks that if Mike's home-"

Crow yelled back into the kitchen from the front door. "Joel! Can we open presents now?!"

"See?" Joel laughed bemused by his own prediction.

Servo shook his dome. "How pathetic."

Mike put his heavy suitcases down on the floor by the front door as he attempted to unzip his jacket. Unfortunately for him Crow was wrapped around his waist and unzipping the jacket past the golden robot was impossible. "Crow?"

"Yes, Mike?" Crow looked up at the blonde human happily.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

Mike waited. "Crow?"

"Yes?"

"Please _let go_ of me."

"Oh, okay." Crow dropped down onto the floor. "Better?"

"Yes." Mike sneezed, again. "Thanks."

"Yuck! Say it don't spray it, Mike!"

"Sorry."

Joel and Servo greeted Mike at the door. "Mike, you're home early."

"Yeah," He sniffed once to try and clear his stuffy nose. "couldn't take it any longer. I left last night."

"You don't sound so good." Joel commented empathetically.

"You don't look so good." Mike saw Joel's pale complexion and noticed him tilting his head. "Guess we both caught something, huh?"

"Yeah, guess so."

Crow cleared hos throat. "Well, you two better not get _me_ sick!"

Joel put his hand on Crow's net. "Crow, shush dear. So Mike, how was your trip?"

"Well, I hit a deer and-"

Servo freaked out at the idea of Mike striking a deer so close to Christmas. "You did WHAT?! It wasn't one of Santa's, was it?! Not Rudolph! NO..."

"No Servo, it wasn't. The deer's fine, but the car needed a new headlight and a few dents smoothed out. So I spent the morning at a repair shop and now I smell like engine grease."

Joel was trying to hide his immature amusement. "What about your folks? How were they?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it."

"Understood. Look, the bots are making us breakfast, go shower and join us."

"Okay, yeah." As Mike slipped off his jacket the letter fell onto the floor.

Joel spotted the white envelope and picked it up. "Hey, what's this? A Christmas card?"

"Oh, right! This came in the mail for me at my parents' house, but it's for all of us. I want to share it with you."

"Sounds... odd." Joel commented dryly. "But okay."

Servo started sniffing the air. "Hey... Is something burning?"

Joel, Mike and Crow all smelled the charring odor, too. "Servo, did you turn off the stove?"

Servo gasped as he hovered toward the kitchen. "No! My masterpiece!"

Crow took off after him. "Wait for me fireplug!"

Mike craned his neck to try and look into the kitchen. "No smoke. Want to go check anyway?"

"Nah, I installed a sprinkler system so if anything goes wrong it'll take care of it for us."

"Oh. Man, you really do think of everything, don't you?"

"Speaking of which... I discovered that the bots are still clueless about the location of their gifts."

Mike laughed as he picked one of his suitcases up from the floor. "I have to admit, that was pretty genius packing them into a suitcase and hiding them in the trunk."

"Thanks, after a while you learn to keep the hiding spots original and if at all possible, moving, in order to keep the bots at bay."

Mike sneezed again, he shielded his face with his arm.

"Bless you! Man, you better go warm up in the shower." Joel tucked the letter into his pocket and took the suitcase from Mike's hands.

"Yeah..." Mike wiped his nose. Yet again. His nose was now beet red. "good idea..."

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	5. The Letter

While Joel continued to supervise the robots in the kitchen as they attempted to make breakfast, Mike found peace and solace in the shower. Getting away from his parents was great, getting out of the cold and getting the stink of the repair garage of his body was that much better. He stood under the warm water and took in every blissful moment of peace. Sneezing again Mike sighed and used the water to wash his face.

"This better be a cold, I don't want to get the flu."

A sudden loud 'thud' against the door of the shower, followed by the clinking of metal, made Mike jump.

"What the hell?!"

"Ow..." Crow moaned as he sat up. "I forgot about the door."

"Crow?" Mike asked suspiciously and confusedly.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What're you doing?"

"Well, I was going to stab you like in 'Psycho', but I ran into the door."

"You were going to STAB me?"

"Only a little."

"When you hit the door, did you hurt yourself?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Good."

"Hey!"

"Can I please have five minutes to myself?"

"You've been in here for half an hour already!"

"Wait, really? Sorry, lost track of time. I'll get out in a minute."

"No rush. Me and Servo sort of burned everything so Joel is making a fresh batch of French toast."

"And that's why you're up here."

"No, I was up here to STAB you, we _just_ had this conversation Mike!"

"Uh-huh... Crow?"

"Yes?"

"Could you please leave now?"

"Sure. I'm sick of looking at your naked buttocks anyway."

"My naked... Crow!?"

"What?"

"Don't look at me when I'm naked!"

"Why not? I did all the time on the Satellite of Love."

Mike didn't know how to respond to such a intimate revelation. "Just... just go. Please."

"Okay. See ya' downstairs, Mike!"

"I'm going to need alot of cold medicine to survive the holidays..."

* * *

Joel had set the table and finished preparing the breakfast properly. Servo, who was still wearing his tiny chef's hat, was sitting at the table and behaving like a perfect gentleman on Joel's behalf.

"How're you holding up, Joel?"

"I'm okay." Joel sat down at the table next to Servo. "I just feel tired and sometimes dizzy."

"Well if you have an ear infection you're going to be a little out of it. Maybe you should go to the doctor."

"Nah, I'll be okay. I just have to stay out of the cold and rest."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Crow walked back into the kitchen, the net on his head was crooked and he was carrying a large butcher's knife. "Smells great, Mike will down in a few minutes."

"Um, Crow?" Joel saw the gold bots disheveled appearance and knife, then decided to ignore it. "Never mind."

"So," Crow sat in a third chair beside Servo. "what's with the letter?"

Joel pulled the letter from his pocket and held it in his hands. "Don't know. Mike said it was for all of us, so we're going to wait for him before we read it."

Right on cue Mike walked into the kitchen. He was wearing fresh clothes and was looking very pale. "Good morning guys. Nice to be home."

Crow cleared his throat. "Letter! What's with the letter? I want to know!"

"Letter, oh, yeah." Mike sat in the fourth chair beside Joel. "Give it here."

Joel handed Mike the letter. "Here ya' go."

"Thank you." Mike opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. "Remember, this is a pretty old letter, so you know..." Mike cleared his throat before he began reading the letter aloud:

' _Dear Friends of the Satellite of Love,_

 _Greetings from your two allies from a parallel universe. It was nice to meet you and to know our fate wasn't a torture unique to us._

 _About four years after making your acquaintance our Satellite of Love fell from orbit and crash landed on our Earth. We walked away unharmed and resumed our lives having grown from our experiences. We never forgot about you five and we finally found a way to make contact with you via letter exchange. And then tossing the letters into a portal that crossed the space-time continuum and connected our two Earths as one._

 _If you're interested in continuing a pen-pal relationship or reunion please write to the following coordinates_ :...'

"Which I did." Mike briefly interrupted before continuing the letter.

' _Signed, Your Friends From A Galaxy Not So Far Away_.'

Crow and Servo exchanged odd glances. "That's it?"

Mike folded the letter back up. "Yup, that's it."

"How LAME. Geez, how long was that laying around anyway?"

"Well, the postmark says 2001... so yeah..."

Despite the bots' lackluster reaction Joel himself was genuinely impressed. "So, who are these 'friends' of yours, Mike?"

"No clue."

"Seriously?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, we met so many odd people, aliens and monsters during our time on the Satellite of Love that I lost track. I'm not really sure who wrote this."

"But you did write back?"

"Yup."

"What did you say?"

"I said it was nice of them to want to keep in touch with us, I apologized for the long delay in reply and gave them my current address."

"You mean... OUR current address?"

"Yes..."

Joel cleared this throat. "Not judging here, Mike, but I don't think it was wise to give someone you can't even identify our home address."

"What could possibly happen?"

The doorbell rang as if the universe was playing a joke, and the four around the table froze; giving each other worried glances.

Mike spoke up. "I'll... I'll answer it."

Joel, Crow and Servo all listened carefully as Mike answered the front door.

"What the hell?!" Mike nearly yelled out in surprise. "Dr. Forrester, Frank?!"

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	6. The Guests

Mike stood in awe at the sight of the two man standing on the front porch in the opened doorway. Both men were holding arm loads of gifts with big cheesy smiles on their faces. The faces of two of Mike's enemies were standing just a few feet away with sincere warm smiles plastered on their faces, a sight of which he thought he'd never behold outside of his wildest fever dreams.

"What... the..." Mike was still trying to comprehend what he was seeing as he struggled to find any words to speak. "How is this... What?"

Dr. Forrester grinned wider as he struggled to reposition his gifts while offering his hand to shake. "Hello there Mike! It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Uh..." Mike slowly took Dr. Forrester's hand and shook weakly. It was then Mike noticed that Dr. Forrester wasn't wearing a neon green lab coat, but a neon green jumpsuit. "Wait a minute... Are you... Are you the Dr. Forrester and Frank we met... During the ion storm?"

"Yes!" Dr. Forrester beamed a little. "You DO remember!"

"I guess..."

Joel, Crow and Servo had heard the commotion from the kitchen and recognized the voice speaking with Mike. With just as much amazement as Mike the trio joined their friend at the front door.

Putting his hand on Mike's shoulder Joel asked the obvious question. "Mike... What's going on?"

Dr. Forrester's eyes widened and he stepped back, almost bumping into Frank. "You! You... You're friends with Mike?"

"Me?" Joel was a little startled by Dr. Forrester's reaction to his presence. "Yeah, I'm friends with Mike."

"Well, I guess it would make sense, I mean... After all we're from a parallel reality where-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Joel's head was spinning, not just from his earache but from the bizarre situation unfolding in front of him. "Parallel reality?"

Dr. Forrester nodded slowly. From behind his shoulder Frank finally spoke up. "Um, Clay, maybe Mike never told Mr. Robinson about us."

Crow and Servo snickered from behind their two human companions' legs. " _MISTER_ Robinson? Seriously, 'MISTER'?"

Joel and Mike exchanged confused glances. Mike finally took control over the situation. "Why don't you two come inside and we'll talk?"

"Sounds good!" Dr. Forrester beamed. "You have a nice home, it's very welcoming."

"Uh, thanks..." Mike cleared his throat. "Belongs to Joel, but he's very generous."

Dr. Forrester gave Joel and odd look as he stepped inside. "I'm sure he is..."

Frank spoke up again. "Clay, different Joel. Remember?"

"Right, right. You're right."

Crow and Servo were still standing behind Joel when the two not-so-evil scientists walked past them into the sitting room. "Um, Joel?" Crow tugged on Joel's pant leg. "Do you think it's wise to let them in?"

"I don't know." Joel confessed. "But I'm willing to follow Mike's lead."

Mike followed the unexpected 'guests' into the sitting room, giving sheepish grins to the two robots as he passed. "So... You're our pen-pals, huh?"

"That's right!" Frank answered happily as he placed his arm load of gifts onto the coffee table in the center of the room. "We're glad Mike finally answered. We were about to give up hope for a response when his letter finally arrived."

"Wait..." Servo was a little confused. "You guys wrote a letter almost thirteen years ago and you were just NOW about to give up on waiting for a response? Talk about keeping the band together..."

Joel grabbed Servo from midair and carried him into the sitting room. "Shush honey. They are our guests, let's be polite."

Mike motioned for Dr. Forrester and Frank to take a seat on the large couch. "So, how've you been?"

Dr. Forrester took his offered seat. "We've been well, thank you for asking."

Frank took the rest of the gifts from Dr. Forrester and put them on the table. "We've been living in Arizona for the past sixteen years."

Mike responded awkwardly as he took a seat on the second couch across from his guests, on the other side of the table. "Sounds... warm."

Joel sat down next to Mike with Servo still in his arms. "Alot warmer than Minnesota."

Crow stared intently at the pile of gifts on the table. "This... Is... TORTURE."

Dr. Forrester grinned. "Well, those ARE for you two robots, so if you want-"

"CAN WE JOEL?!" Crow turned around and stared at his creator's blue eyes. "PLEASE?!"

"Well, sure. You've been good and tomorrow is-"

"YES!" Crow started rifling through the gifts looks for his name.

Servo promptly flew out of Joel's arm and helped his colleague search and separate.

"Wow..." Dr. Forrester commented happily. "Didn't expect that!"

"What?" Joel asked sincerely. "The bots tearing into presents?"

"No... I was referring to... well... YOU!"

"Me? What do you mean?"

"In OUR reality you're a humorless, angry, uptight and heartless jerk!"

That character revelation was enough to get the bots to freeze mid-present tear. "Wait... WHAT?!"

Mike laughed a little, then coughed a little. "Wait, in YOUR reality Joel, JOEL ROBINSON, is a jerk? I... I just can't picture that! He's just so... laidback."

Servo added his own details. "And kind, and patient, and creative and-"

Crow interrupted. "And WEIRD."

Joel blushed a little, but it was made more obvious against his unusually pale complexion. "Thanks guys. And on behalf of my evil doppelganger, I'm sorry."

Dr. Forrester and Frank gave each other impressed glances. "Wow, you really are different from the Mr... Correction. Joel, that we know."

"And you're nothing like the Dr. Forrester we knew."

"Please," Dr. Forrester politely interjected. "call me Clay."

"Okay... Clay."

Servo and Crow briefly looked at each other, shook their heads and resumed tearing into their pile of gifts.

Mike had an interesting thought. "Hey, what did this evil-Joel look like?"

"What?" Joel laughed at the question. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Well, Servo and Gypsy said that my evil doppelganger had a goatee and was wearing a 'Star Trek' like officer's shirt. I'm wondering if you looked the same!"

Clay laughed. "Well, our evil Joel had muttonchops and a monocle!"

Mike and the bots started giggling. "I would've loved to see that..."

Frank casually continued talking about evil Joel. "I wish you could've seen him. But he's gone. I mean, you know... gone."

Joel paled a little. It was an odd sensation knowing his evil counterpart was dead while he continued to live. "Do you know... What happened to him?"

"Yeah, I do." Clay answered wearily. "The evil doppelganger for Gypsy crammed him into a small rocket ship and launched him into the Sun."

The bots froze again. "Ouch..."

"Harsh..."

Mike cleared his throat. "Uh... Why?"

"Because after evil Mike arrived at Gizmonic Institute as the newest custodian he convinced Gypsy to help him get rid of evil Joel in exchange for more ram-chips."

Joel playfully punched Mike's shoulder. "Traitor!"

"Sorry!"

"Then what happened?" Servo asked curiously. "What happened after evil Mike's funding was cut?"

Frank answered the question. "Well, shortly before he lost funding his evil wife, Nuveena,-"

Crow sputtered in absolute shock. "WHAT?! In YOUR reality Mike MARRIED that weird lady?!"

Servo turned to look at Mike, swatches of red wrapping paper stuck to his dome. "Ha ha!"

Mike blushed. "Maybe I dodged a bullet..."

Joel put his hand on Mike's shoulder. "Please continue."

"Right," Frank cleared his voice. "Nuveena began taking over evil Mike's position of power in Deep 13, and after his funding was cut evil Mike severed the connection between the Earth and the Satellite of Love letting us drift aimlessly to the edge of the universe. Afterward evil Mike died and turned into a star-baby while Clay and I became disembodied energy and played around at the edge of the universe. We were out there for five-hundred years before we regained our corporeal forms. During our exhile nannites boarded the S.O.L. and repaired the damage in exchange for a place to stay."

"Wow..." Joel was amazed. "Sounds alot like what happened to you guys."

Clay finished the story. "We returned to Earth only to find Earth was now 'Ape-Earth' and Nuveena was the 'Lawgiver'. She took over the experiment and after a series of unfortunate events where Frank and I accidentally... destroyed three planets..."

Neither Mike nor Joel flinched as he spoke.

"and she recruited an intelligent ape known as Professor BoBo and an alien called Observer, of whom they dubbed 'Brain Guy'. They experimented on us for another three years before we finally got back to Earth via crash landing."

Crow and Servo had tuned out the story and were focusing on their new toys. The two bots were surrounded by toy cars, actions figures, playing cards and a unusual monkey like puppet with a tag attached to its paw reading 'Joey the Lemur'.

Joel tilted his head to the side as he tried to ignore the mounting pain in his ear. "Sounds like your experiences mirrored Mike and the bots' perfectly."

Mike agreed. "And I'm glad you two survived. Is it safe to assume that Nuveena became ruler of Qatar while BoBo went to the zoo and Brain Guy to some... space... quadrant... thing?"

"Yup." Clay smiled happily.

Joel thought about his own past experiences and an interesting thought popped in his head. "Hey wait, did you know a Dr. Laurence Erhardt?"

"Larry! Of course I knew him!"

"What happened to him, where did he go?"

"Well, one day Larry found an emergency escape pod hidden in a box of hamdingers and he accidentally started the launch sequence. He was sent back to Earth after only one year in space."

Frank added more details. "Yeah, and I was hired by evil Joel as a temp during an audit at Deep 13. After Larry escaped evil Joel conked me on the noggin' and shot me into space!"

"Whoa... Weird." Joel commented dryly. "Well, again, sorry for what my evil version has done to you."

"Don't worry about it." Frank laughed.

"Yeah, besides our evil counterparts weren't exactly any better."

Joel and Mike were feeling more at ease with their guests.

Mike suddenly remembered breakfast. "Hey, this has been a pretty odd morning but how'd you like to join us for breakfast? You know, really get to know each other as people and not just victims of a common circumstance?"

"We'd like that." Clay replied very warmly. "After you!"

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	7. The Past and The Present

Crow and Servo stayed in the sitting room surrounded by their toys, completely uninterested in joining the humans in the kitchen.

"Wow, this version of Dr. Forrester and Frank is the best!" Crow beamed happily as he ran his little blue car over the table. "They gave us stuff and we didn't have to get them nothing!"

Servo agreed with Crow, at least on some of the things he had sad. "Yeah, I really like this version of _Clay_ and Frank. But... I do feel bad. We didn't get them anything."

"So what? It's not like we knew they would be stopping by."

"Yeah, but still..." Servo looked at their impressive collection of new toys. "we should do _something_!"

"Like what?" Crow asked halfheartedly as he continued to play with his car.

"Well, like we could... would you STOP playing and listen!"

"Sorry..." Crow dropped his car.

"Like we could keep our word and help take care of Joel and Mike since they're sick, AND we can be good host bots and treat Clay and Frank like honored guests."

"Sounds hard."

"Not really. We just need to put in a little effort."

"Right. Like I said; _sounds hard_."

"Shut up."

From the kitchen the two bots heard Mike sneeze, yet again. "Sorry." Mike apologized to everyone else in the kitchen.

"Wow, Mike sounds terrible." Servo commented sincerely.

"Yeah he does. And he didn't laugh when I tried to stab him in the shower."

"Like 'Psycho'?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, he MUST be sick, that's HILARIOUS!"

"I know!"

"C'mon, let's go help out in the kitchen."

Together the two bots entered the kitchen and spied the four humans sitting at the table, awkwardly smiling as they tried to make small talk. Servo hovered over to Mike and stayed by his shoulder while Crow climbed up the back of Joel's chair and hung his head over Joel's shoulder.

"So..." Crow began. "Whatcha' talkin' about?"

Joel cleared his throat and tilted his head slightly to try and get the ache in his ear to lessen. "We were just comparing our universe to theirs. Pretty fascinating how much our lives mirror each other."

"Really? What about 'ConGypsCo.'? Since their Gypsy is evil does that mean she founded an evil organization?"

"No..." Clay answered hesitantly. "She and the rest of your evil counterparts... died... alongside evil Mike."

"Oh..."

Servo continued the line of questions. "So, no 'ConGypsCo.'?"

"Nope. But there is a 'LarryCon.'. He started the company after escaping to Earth. He gave Frank and I jobs as soon as we returned to Earth. He even gave me enough money to give my wonderful mom a nice new home to live."

"Your... mom?" Crow asked cautiously. "Pearl Forrester?"

"Why yes! You know her?"

Crow and Servo both turned to look at Mike who was blushing a little. "Uh," Mike began uneasily. "Pearl sort of... took over as our... captor after you, uh..."

"Wow," Clay was a little surprised. "can't imagine my own mom as an evil tyrant."

Mike sneezed again, catching the sneezing in the bend of his left arm. "Gah, sorry! I'm not doing this on purpose."

Joel took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes. "Don't apologize, we know you're not doing that by choice." Joel slipped his glasses back on. "No one can help getting sick."

"Yeah, I know. But it's so dumb! If I hadn't gotten out of the car to check on that deer after I hit it..."

"Mike, you were checking on an injured animal. That's not dumb, that's kind."

Servo chimed in. "Yeah, and the deer was just fine so that's double kind of you to check on him anyway."

Mike still felt horrible and continued to complain about himself. "Yeah, but if I had just sucked it up and stayed with my parents for one more night I wouldn't have hit the deer in the first place!"

This time Crow intervened. "Mike, the fact that you even stayed with your parents at all is more than enough. They don't respect you."

"Yeah," Servo agreed. "not the way that we do!"

Frank had something to add to the conversation. "Well, considering that in our universe your parents are the ones who enrolled you in that evil science academy to begin with means that in THIS universe your parents are the kind versions and we had the evil counterparts to thank for _your_ evil counterpart."

Mike's blue eyes widened with an unexpected thought. "Wow... I never really thought about it, but I suppose... My parents could've been far worse than they are. I mean, its not like I grew up impoverished or on the streets. I had a roof over my head, I never went hungry, I had warm clothes and during the holidays we did spend time with each other. It wasn't a full blown celebration or anything, but we were together."

Joel put his hand on Mike's shoulder. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah. It's just... I think I need to go call my mom. Excuse me."

Servo took Mike's seat as he left the kitchen and headed upstairs. "Poor guy. Sometimes I think he's just too darn sensitive!"

Joel agreed with Servo. "You're right, but that's why he's such a good guy."

Clay interjected, eager to ask an awkward question but not wanting to offend. "You know, Joel, I've always been curious. What was your childhood like? What was it in this reality that could explain why the Joel in our universe was so... evil."

Joel's face blanked and he turned away from his guest. "I, uh... I don't want to talk about it. Please."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, you didn't. It's nothing. I just... Excuse me." Joel left the table and walked upstairs.

Frank shook his head. "Oops."

Crow took Joel's seat and faced the two visiting humans. "Don't worry about it. Joel never really told us about his family of childhood growing up. You know, unless it was somehow relevant."

Servo sided with Crow. "Yeah, and when he did talk about it was always a single fleeting memory and not a full blown story. Which we kind of liked, but at the same time it left us curious about Joel's childhood."

"So..." Crow gave Servo a look that suggested he was about to ask an awkward question himself. "What _do_ you know about evil Joel's history?"

"Well... Our evil Joel once mentioned a sister and his parents. But nothing too detailed. Maybe his parents were like my evil counterpart's mother. Maybe it's their upbringing that made our evil Joel so evil."

"Maybe."

Frank had his own suggestion. "Maybe evil Joel was evil because he wanted to be evil. And this nice Joel is nice because he wants to be nice."

"I don't think good and evil are such rudimentary choices, Frank." Clay replied gingerly. "Besides, anyone who is smart enough to program four sentient robots would have some sort of motivation and I doubt such a simplified choice like I want to be good or I want to be evil would sufficiently explain his decisions."

Servo had his own comment. "Well, in our reality Joel built us to be his friends and family after your evil counterparts marooned him in space. He programmed us with basic knowledge about life on Earth and continued to teach us about what it's like to be human."

"And he taught us about the importance of good humor." Crow tagged on.

"That's it!" Clay finally understood evil Joel's motivation. "So it sounds like our evil Joel was lonely and created you four bots to keep him company while he conducted the experiment."

"Wait," Crow had an interesting question. "your evil counterparts launched our Joel into space simply because they didn't like him. what was evil Joel's deal with sending you into space?"

"Me? I never really thought about it. Must be the same reason."

Servo sounded convinced. "Makes sense to me. So much of our two realities already mirror each other, I guess it's entirely possible for a single choice to be made by two different people and have the same result."

Crow looked at Servo with awe. "Trippy!"

Mike returned to the kitchen, his eyes were red and watery and his nose was bright red. "Hi. What did I miss?"

"Nothing much." Servo answered casually. "Just discussing the probability and overall ramifications about decision making, the 'butterfly effect', between our two realities. What were you doing?"

"Well, I called my mom and let her know I was grateful for everything she and my dad did for me and Eddie while growing up, then I took a massive dose of NyQuil. Now I want to go take a nap." Mike's blue eyes started to glaze over. "Did I say that sentence out loud?"

Crow nodded. "Yup."

"Okay, good." Mike realized Joel was gone. "Where's Joel?"

"Upstairs."

"Oh. Wonder why I didn't see him."

"Probably because you have different bedrooms."

"Oh, yeah. We do."

Clay and Frank got up from the table. "Well, this was a nice visit and we're glad we finally got a chance to reunite with our friends from another universe, but..."

Mike understood. "You have to get back to your own universe."

"Yes, mom is looking forward to have Frank and myself over for Christmas dinner tomorrow."

"Right. Well, please, give your mother our best wishes." Mike extended his hand to shake once again.

"We will." Clay shook his hand. "Thank you for making time for us on such short notice."

Frank also shook Mike's hand. "We should do this again, but you know, with an actual head's up."

"Yeah, that'd be great!"

Servo hovered out of the kitchen and yelled through the door. "Thanks for the gifts but I'm going to check on Joel!"

Crow ran after Servo. "Ditto!"

Mike saw their two guests to the door and saw them out. "Nice guys. A little weird, but nice." After closing the front door and locking it, Mike laid down on the couch and stretched out. He was quickly asleep and finally relaxed.

Servo and Crow cautiously entered Joel's bedroom and spotted their human sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Joel? You okay?" Servo asked as he hovered up and rested next to Joel's side.

"Yeah, fine." Joel was staring at an old family photograph in his hands. "Just... thinking."

"About what?" Crow asked.

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	8. The Future

Joel didn't answer the question, he continued to stare at the old photograph in somber silence. The bots had never seen Joel act so down, so distant before.

Crow nudged Servo's arm. "Maybe we should get Mike."

"I'll go look for him." Servo hovered out of the bedroom in search of Mike, leaving Crow alone with Joel.

"Joel?" Crow tugged on Joel's shirt sleeve. "C'mon buddy, talk to me."

Sighing heavily Joel continued to stare blankly at the photograph. His eyes were beginning to well up with tears and his face beginning to pale further.

"Joel don't do that. Don't shut down! We're friends AND family here, don't shut us out! You never let us keep our pain bottled up, we're not going to let you do the same."

Servo returned to the bedroom. "Found Mike but he's asleep on the couch."

"Did you try to wake him?"

"Yeah, but he's got some green stuff stained on his chin so he took a big dose of NyQuil."

"Ewwww... Gross. Oh, great..." Crow returned his focus to Joel. "Joel? Earth to Joel!" Crow turned back to Servo. "Hey, we can finally say that and it works!" Turning back to Joel again Crow cleared his throat. "Talk to us buddy, don't make me bite you!"

Servo stared at Joel's unusually blank face and whispered to Crow. "Do it. Bite him, but not too hard."

"Right." Crow put his beak over Joel's forearm and slowly applied pressure until Joel noticed the pain and reacted.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Joel pulled his arm from Crow and rubbed at the spot where a red mark was beginning to form.

"Biting you."

"Why?"

"You were zoned out."

"Oh, sorry."

Servo had enough of patiently waiting. "Okay, that's it. Joel, you're going to talk to us about what's bothering you and you're going to do it right now Mister!"

Joel looked at his two robots and realized that they were genuinely worried about him. "Do... Do you guys really want to know?"

"Uh-huh." Servo confirmed.

"Even though it's really sad and it makes me feel terrible to talk about?"

Crow replied with a casual. "Maybe..."

"And after I tell you you'll be upset and I'll have officially ruined Christmas?"

Servo and Crow exchanged sorrowful glances before Servo finally answered. "Well, no. We don't want you to be upset. And just for the record, you'd never ruin our Christmas."

Joel put the photo down and wrapped his arms around the bots. "Thanks guys."

"But," Servo continued on. "if you do want to talk about it, we're great listeners."

"Thanks again, guys." Joel released his hug. "Hey, where's Mike and our guests?"

"Mike's asleep."

"And Clay and Frank left for home."

"Oh, well, I never got to say goodbye."

"I don't think they'll mind. Nice guys..."

Joel stood up from the bed, his legs weak and his head swimming. "Let's... uh..."

"Joel?" Crow didn't like the way he looked.

Joel tilted his head to the side again and promptly blacked out.

"Joel!" Crow and Servo watched as Joel fell backward onto his bed in a cold faint.

"Is he...?" Servo asked while he and Crow leaned over Joel's unconscious form on the bed.

"Nah, he's alive. Look, he's still breathing!"

"Good. That would be awkward if he keeled over after I told him he couldn't possibly ruin Christmas."

"Yeah, talk about your bad timing."

"Think he'll be okay?"

"Sure! He and Mike always get better after they get sick. They just need to sleep."

"Hmm..." Servo looked at the time on the digital clock next to Joel's bed. "It's just noon now. I bet if they sleep all through the evening now they'll be feeling better tomorrow."

"But... It's Christmas Eve! We can't celebrate without Joel or Mike!"

"Well, what we can't celebrate today we can celebrate DOUBLE tomorrow!"

"Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!" Crow was getting excited. "And... we DID promise to take care of things for them for the rest of today and tomorrow, and if they're asleep we can take care of things OUR way!"

"Now you're getting it!"

"C'mon. Let's finish off the kitchen and then we can play with our toys all we want!"

"Right, let's go."

"Wait, one thing..." Crow took Joel's glasses from his face and put them on the table before awkwardly pulling the quilt on the bed over Joel. "There. Now he'll be comfortable and sleep longer."

"Good idea, Crow. To the kitchen!"

"Away!"

 _ **...to be continued...**_


	9. Friends and Family Together

Crow and Servo entered the kitchen and began 'cleaning up' their messy breakfast, while simultaneously creating a second bigger mess! Sticky plates covered in syrup clung to the table and a the floor as Crow tried to clear the table and put the used dishware in the sink. Servo was struggling to get the water running in the sink, considering he had inarticulate hands that couldn't grip anything.

"Heads up, Servo!" Crow called out as he tossed plates and silverware up into the sink.

"Watch it!" Servo complained as he hovered away from the sink, attempting to avoid the splashing, soapy water.

"Just one more!" Crow got down on his knees to pry a plate off of the linoleum floor. "Got it!"

"Good." Servo watched as the dishes began soaking in the warm water. "Now, let's mop up that syrup before the ants come."

"The ants come marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah..." Crow began singing to himself as he pulled the mop out of the supply closet in the hall.

"Shh!" Servo tried to shush Crow's singing. "Don't wake Mike or Joel! They're sick, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Crow grumbled under his breath as he dipped the mop in the bucket. "We need to get a Swiffer!"

"Shh!" Servo shushed Crow again. "I'm going to clean up the sitting room."

Crow mopped the kitchen floor, cleaning up the sticky syrup puddles and other spilled items. Servo hovered into the sitting room and collected all the torn up wrapping paper that he and Crow left behind during their mad scramble to open their gifts. Piece by piece Servo collected the small bits of paper, ribbon and bows from the floor and coffee table.

"Careful..." Servo muttered to himself as he hovered around Mike asleep on the couch. "Don't wake the baby..."

With all the collected paper awkwardly tucked under his stationary arms and hands Servo exited the sitting room and made his way back into the kitchen to toss the paper in the recycling bins.

"Done." Servo declared as he put the tossed the paper.

"Same!" Crow wrung out the mop with his claws. "Gross..."

"You know, sometimes I'm glad my hands don't work."

Crow didn't reply to Servo's jab. "Glad we don't have guests everyday. Clay and Frank are really nice, but they all create big messes!" He instead chose to focus on Joel and Mike. "Now what do we do?"

"Well, the kitchen's clean and the sitting room's clean. It's just past 1pm and we can't make any noise so Mike and Joel can sleep..."

"Yeah, they're sick. Want to play paintball in the garage?"

"Nah, besides we're out of blue paintballs. Why don't we decorate the sitting room? You know, add more color and really bring out the Christmas spirit!"

"Yeah!"

The two robots went to their bedroom and gathered up all the markers, crayons, pens, paper and paint they could find. Afterward they went into Joel's workshop to gather some tools before heading into the attic to find the rest of the decorations that hadn't been put up.

Crow was tangled in a mound of colored lights and Servo was wrapped up in spools of green ribbon.

Pulling the lights away from his mouth Crow looked at Servo. "I'll go outside and add more lights, you stay inside and string up everything in ribbon."

"Good plan!"

All through the remaining afternoon and all through the evening the two kindhearted robots decorated their home to ensure that Joel and Mike would be festive moods on Christmas morning.

Joel was awakened by a noise outside his bedroom window. Something heavy hit the window from the outside, against the glass. "What the...?"

He sat up on his bed, groggy and confused. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and realized he was no longer wearing his glasses. As he reached for the glasses sitting on the nearby table he caught a glimpse of something golden swinging by his window at the end of a string of lights.

"What... Crow?!" Joel jumped from his bed and opened the window.

"Hi, Joel!" Crow greeted happily as he swung by the window, upside down in the lights. "Feeling better?"

"Crow, what on Earth are you doing?!"

"Putting up lights."

"Why? There's enough outside already, you don't have to risk your life over something as silly as lights!" Joel reached out and grabbed Crow's arm as he swung by again.

"Silly? C'mon Joel! It's the Christmas spirit!"

"Crow..."

"No, I mean, it is! Besides, you and Mike are sick and that's no way to spend Christmas! We wanted to make you guys feel better!"

Joel couldn't help but grin at Crow's gesture of kindness. Carefully Joel unwrapped Crow's lanky limbs from the long string of lights and pulled the bot back inside the house through the window. "Get in here you nut."

Crow was happy to rejoin his family inside the warm house. "Brrr! Thanks!"

"Where's Tom?"

"Downstairs. He's in the sitting room."

"And Mike?"

"Same."

"Well, let's go see what they're doing."

"But Joel, you're still sick! Shouldn't you still be resting?"

Joel had forgotten about his sore ear for a moment, but it was then he realized that the pain was almost gone. "Actually, I think I'm getting better. I'm not dizzy any more and I can hear just fine."

"Really? It's a Christmas miracle!" Crow cheered. "Hallelujah!"

"I doubt if this counts as Christmas miracle, Crow."

"Don't ruin it!"

"Come on, let's go see what the others are up to."

Walking downstairs together Joel and Crow spotted Servo hovering around the sitting room, which was now completely garnished in green ribbon, red bows and garland.

"Whoa..." Joel commented at the lavish decorating. "You did a really good job, Tom."

"Joel!" Servo wasn't expecting to see Joel awake just yet. "Buddy, you're up. And you look so much better!"

"I feel better. Did you two spend the entire day cleaning and decorating?"

"Well, most of it."

"Thank you. Hey, where's Mike?"

Servo turned to look at the couch. "Under the mistletoe..."

"Huh?" Joel turned and looked at the couch where Mike was sleeping.

Mike had been wrapped in ribbon and bows, with a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling right over his head.

Crow noticed the carefully hung plant and laughed wickedly. "Me first!"

"No!" Joel managed to grab the gold robot as he jumped into the air. "Let him sleep..."

"Fine, but as soon as he's awake..."

On that note Mike yawned and opened his eyes. He was no longer sneezing and his color was much better, far less pale. "Hey guys, what's..." He noticed he couldn't move his arms very well under all the ribbon that was tied around him. "What's going on?"

Servo hovered up to Mike on the couch. "It's Christmas! That's what's up!" Servo then kissed Mike on the cheek!

"What the!?"

"My turn!" Crow wrestled free from Joel's arms and planted a kiss of his own on Mike's other cheek.

Mike awkwardly fell off the couch in attempt to get away from the two robots. "Joel... Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, we both did."

Joel leaned down on the floor to untie the ribbon around Mike's arms. "The bots have been taking care of things while we slept."

"Oh... What time is it?"

Joel pulled a wad of ribbon free and looked at his watch. "It's going on 9pm."

Servo and Crow gasped and looked at each other excitedly. "Three hours until Christmas!"

Finally freed of the ribbon Mike stood up and looked around the sitting room. "Man, you guys really are excited."

"Yup!" Servo agreed.

"Crow scoffed. "Was there really any doubt?"

Joel sat down on the couch, opposite the mistletoe. "Well... Since it's only three hours from Christmas and you guys have been very helpful..."

Crow climbed up on the couch and looked eyes with Joel. "Are you saying... We... Can..."

"I think so."

Servo pushed his dome against Mike's shoulder. "What do you say, Mike? PLEASE?!"

"Well... Okay. Go for it!"

"YAY!" The two bots dove under the Christmas tree and started going through the pile of presents. "Hey wait... These are all for you two!"

Joel laughed to himself. " _Your_ presents are upstairs"

"But... we looked upstairs..."

Mike cleared his throat. "But, _not since I got back_."

"Wait..." Servo was putting the pieces together. " _You_ had our gifts ALL ALONG?!"

"Yup."

Crow laughed a little. "Heh, good one!"

Joel took a bow. "Thank you."

"So...?"

"Right," Mike playfully slapped Joel on the shoulder as he laughed himself. "I'll go get the gifts and we'll have our Christmas."

 _ **-The End  
**_


End file.
